“Autumn Budget: Capital Gains Tax Changes Dominate”

Oct 30, 2024 | Tax

An independent (financial adviser’s) view

It could have been worse. Apparently there was a plan to really change CGT, probably to align it with income tax, but HMRC said ’not without lots more staff!’ So she didn’t. What we have is an increase in the rates (one of the few things effective immediately and not from April) from 10% and 20% to 18% (yes, and 80% rise!) and 24% and no change to the already-slashed-by-the-Tories allowance of £3,000. Tax on and allowances for dividends and interest haven’t changed, and neither have ISAs or ISA allowances. For most of our clients who have investments not held in ISAs or pensions, CGT hasn’t been an issue in recent years. The allowance, the amount of profit you could make before paying, was £12,300 until a couple of years ago; and when it went down, so, thanks to Putin and Liz, did investments, so there weren’t any profits to worry about. Now, nice problem to have, perhaps, many will have an annual Capital Gains Tax bill to pay as well as tax on interest, now that rates are rather more than 0.5%, and dividends, for which the allowance remains at a paltry £500. In the words of a Gen-Something, ‘it is what it is’…

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